Grateful for people watching

This week someone asked on Facebook if we like to people watch and I had to reply that it is in my blood and one of my favorite pastimes. I don’t think you can grow up in New York City and not people watch – they might kick you out – it is such a normal part of the culture. I would actually say it is a sport.

It is one thing (among many) that my British husband had to get used to. He would nudge me and tell me to “stop staring” when all I had been doing is “observing” and taking it all in. I watch families, check out women’s clothes and accessories, decide what I will order in a restaurant after following waiters with my eyes as they deliver dishes around the restaurant.

I have been known to approach women to find out where they got their handbag.

I do not hesitate to lean over to another table to ask if the dish tastes as good as it looks.

I have enjoyed many interesting conversations that I was not actually a part of.

I was aware this week how often I still people watch and observe and eavesdrop – especially in my own house. I love nothing more than to hang back quietly while my girls talk, make up songs, play and draw and simply observe and listen. Sometimes they catch me and give me a little look. Lulu, especially, will say “whaaaat?” with a bit of a cheeky grin. She knows I enjoy watching them, but teases me nonetheless.

For most of my life I was actually known as a talker* – seriously never shut up… Now I feel I am happier being an observer and I don’t always have to be involved in the conversation.  I am grateful for that ability to hang back just enough to take it all in now.

What are you grateful for this week?

Find your simple,

Deb

Photo credit: NYC photo by flickr user vanz

*I might still be known this way – not sure how others perceive me as a slowed down and quieter New Yorker is still louder and more out there than your average Australian so I don’t think that perception will ever change. I laughingly explain that this is the laid back version of me – not sure if I will ever achieve true “laid back” – unlike the people watching, that is not in the New Yorker blood.

linking up with Maxabella Loves and Kidspot for 52 weeks of Grateful